Thursday, October 9, 2008

The Essence of the Coverage Problems

by: Michael Steffes

Mora talked with reporters yesterday, mostly about the performance of the secondary. Some of his quotes were telling. The first one hints at a change in scheme this year:

"We're playing a little more single-safety middle, which puts our corners isolated," Mora said. "They've caught a couple balls out there in one-on-one (coverage). We've been right there and we just haven't made the plays.
This is what I have noticed when I have tortured myself by re-watching games. In what I see, the Seahawks seem to be doing two things I don't remember them doing as much in previous seasons. The first of these is that they seem hesitant to go to a nickel defense as often. Last week, the majority of the time the Giants went to three receivers, the Seahawks countered by dropping Brian Russell down to cover the third wideout. This would leave Deon Grant to cover the whole field, which is not his strength.

The second thing I have noticed is that the Hawks are loading the box with Russell or Grant quite often. Many times Julian Peterson wil move down towards the line of scrimmage, with Russell moving up from safety to fill the empty gap. Again, Deon Grant is left all alone, and the less-than-speedy Russell has more ground to cover once he diagnoses the play as a pass. The scheme has done just as Mora says, which is expose the corners in one-on-one coverage. Neither Jennings in his injured state nor Wilson can seemingly hold up under this scenario. It's time to adjust the thinking, because the Hawks need both safeties back there to help.

One other thing Mora said in talking with reporters is this:
"Defense is the ultimate team sport. So when there's big plays in the run game, there's usually a secondary guy involved. When there's big plays in the pass game, there's usually a front (seven) guy involved.
This is the true nature of defense. Mora is not just saying this to completely absolve the secondary. At the heart of this current predicament seems to be that the Seahawks defense--as well as the rest of the team, for that matter--is not playing as one. Nobody is picking each other up. The offense is hurting the defense, and in turn the defense isn't allowing the offense to stay with its plan. The front four isn't getting pressure, leaving the secondary exposed, but the secondary needs to cover better so the front four has more time. All of it works together.

It is time for the Seahawks to get together and do it correctly. No time like the present, right? If the defense doesn't show something this weekend, it is going to be a long season and there will be a lot of questions to be answered. ~END~